Black Heart
by Demasiado Piola
Summary: What if he did have a heart after all? What if he did care for him? ... What if he realized this just too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Black Heart **

The halls of the castle were unusually quiet. The night sky was darker than usual, and there was no star shinning in the sky. It seemed as if they were afraid of what was going to happen and had ran away with their light, leaving everything in a pitch black darkness.

Footsteps were heard suddenly in Nightmare Castle, followed by screams of desperation and sorrow. Whispers were the background music in this horrible scene, talking about what was going to happen. The voices were scared but excited. They knew something big was coming, something that was going to change their lives forever.

The screams were getting near. They were screams of rage now. Their source was struggling to get free of the claws that were holding him tightly, never letting go of him and not allowing him to escape his certain death. The two figures walked through the long and dark halls, avoiding the hundreds of confused stares.

They finally arrived to their destination. Two huge black doors laid in front of them, waiting for a trembling hand to knock on them. The prisoner gasped at the sight of the so familiar doors. He glanced at his brother, who was starting to hold his arm so tightly that his claws went into his skin, bright red blood started emerging from the wounds made.

A trembling, insecure hand knocked the huge doors gently. His yellow claws shinning , his ice blue eyes not daring to look at his prisoner. A deep and strong voice was heard from inside. "Enter".

The siblings did as told. One of them started struggling again, but he knew it was useless, his brother was way stronger than him, he was not match to him in strength. The only thing he could do now was wait. Wait for the impossible to happen.

They entered a very large room. There was no lights anywhere and everything seemed to be consumed by darkness. The stronger one pulled his prisoner's arm, forcing him to walk towards the center of the room. The prisoner started trembling furiously with pure fear. He knew what was going to happen, and wasn't prepared for it yet.

"You can release him now, Reala" said the same deep voice than before. Reala did as told and let go of his brother, who tried as hard as he could to hide his fear. " Well done, you are dismissed for now." Said the voice who was talking to the General of Nightmares, Reala. At the mere thought of being left alone there, the prisoner started to panic. He turned to his brother, eyes begging him not to leave.

Reala, avoiding his brother's stare, nodded to his master, and turned to leave the room. He could feel him, his brother, staring at the back of his head, his beautiful big eyes begging him to stay with him, to protect him … but he was going to be alone now. Reala wasn't going to disobey his Master's orders, never.

_"It was his fault. He shouldn't have disobeyed Master Wizeman's orders. He has to pay what he did. He has to face it on his own … but … "_ he exited the room and stayed there in the hall, his back facing the huge, beautiful doors. _"I don't want him to get hurt … "_ He shook his head at this thought. What was he saying? He betrayed Master Wizeman, he ruined their plans, he left down all of the Nightmarens that looked up at him as an example, he betrayed… _him_. He deserved to be punished, he deserved to be hurt, and no one could help him.

Reala sighed. He looked at the ceiling; so many emotions inside him, and he didn't know half of them. Everything was so confusing…

"What were you thinking NiGHTS?" Saying that, the General of Nightmares started walking towards his room.

* * *

He was alone now, completely alone. He looked around nervously, searching for his Master to appear and punish him. But he was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly a huge caped figure appeared in the center of the room, six hands floating near his body, with a faceless head. He moved his hands near the frightened Nightmaren, each one of them with it's huge eye fixed on NiGHTS.

He analyzed him, watching his every movement in silence. NiGHTS didn't dare to move, he could feel all the eyes surrounding him. All the stares felt like if they were burning his skin.

"Why did you betray me? Your creator, your Master?" Wizeman was still staring at him, waiting for the reaction towards that question. NiGHTS' mind was in blank. He wasn't able to think of a correct answer , his brain wasn't working well. Wizeman waited patiently for his creation to justify himself. He still couldn't believe that one of his First Class Nightmarens, one of his best creations had disobeyed his orders, betrayed him. How could he? He simply stared at NiGHTS, maybe he had a good excuse for this? No, there wasn't any. Nothing could save him now. Still, he decided to hear his creation's side of the story.

Then NiGHTS remembered. He remembered the look of that dreamer's face. The horrified look they had every time he snatched their Ideya from them, the pain and sorrow he caused them. He didn't like that. He didn't like that look on their faces, and he knew he was going to see more of them if he let Wizeman make this bridge towards the waking world.

He also knew the young Nightmarens weren't ready, not yet. They lacked experience in fighting, many of them didn't even know how to defend themselves. They were weak, they weren't going to survive in that hostile ground that awaited them in the waking world. Why no one could see this? That so many lives were going to be sacrificed? For what? For Power? That wasn't a good reason for him. Why was he the only one who felt like this?

He gathered all the courage he had, the same one he used to steal the Ideya from Wizeman some hours ago. He felt secure of himself. His fear had almost disappeared. He started to feel confident again. He had something to protect now, and he wasn't going to regret what he did. They were the ones wrong, not him.

He also found the idea of conquering the waking world extremely boring. Where was all the fun in a world that looked all the same?

He faced his Master, and with a very confident voice he said "Because I think that the young ones aren't ready yet. They need more training." He paused for a moment and notice that his Master was paying full attention to him. "What are you thinking Master? If you take the waking world now, they are all going to die! And for what? So you can have a bigger empire? And what about the dreamers? They are the energy source of this world! If they disappear, our world will too!"

He didn't notice that he was nearly shouting now, but he couldn't care less. He needed to let out all of his thoughts, he had them inside him for too long. It made him feel so good, letting it all out.

Wizeman stared, quiet. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did this fool just say he was wrong? Him, the ruler of all Nightmares? That was surely impossible, he was never wrong. "Pity, what a pity. I was so proud of you NiGHTS … you were one of my best creations, but … " his voice was incredibly sharp and cold. He was angry, that was for sure.

"First you disobey me, then you steal the red Ideya and you ruined my perfect plan. I can tolerate that. A strong and painful punishment would've just be enough to teach you not to disobey orders. But to disrespect me saying I was wrong? That's something I can't tolerate. You've crossed the line NiGHTS."

Wizeman was doing his best attempt to control his rage. He was the supreme ruler of the Nightmare. He wasn't going to leave a stupid little fool like NiGHTS to tell him what to do with his creations.

NiGHTS just stared at his Master. Why? Why was he so blind? Why couldn't he understand? He suddenly started to feel angry, angry with his Master for not understanding him, for not seeing what he saw. "Why can't you understand Master?! Why are you so blind?!" He wasn't expecting what followed. He was too angry to actually notice.

He got what he deserved. One of Wizeman's hand hit him hard. His little body flew some meters backwards, then hit the ground. He couldn't move, he was shocked. The blow was so hard he wasn't able to think right. He just did what first came to his confused mind. He started sobbing. His frightened self came back again. The blow made him realized he was talking with someone dangerous. He had forgotten. All of his thoughts had made his fear disappear, and he regret that now. He was already in trouble before coming here, now he was surely dead. He hated himself for being so foolish.

From sobbing he started to actually cry, as he noticed he was in extreme pain. Every movement hurt so much. He wished _he_ was here. Telling him how stupid he was for saying such things, then protecting him from those horrible hands. But he knew he wasn't there, he knew he wasn't going to come. _"Reala…"_

"You just made a great mistake NiGHTS, and you are going to pay for it."

* * *

Reala was in his room. He laid on his bed trying to get some sleep, but it was impossible. His mind was set on his brother. He was worried. Worried? Why? He closed his eyes. Why was he feeling like this? He tried to sleep again, but it didn't work. It was useless, he had to know that he was alright, or he just wasn't going to be calm. He was mad with him, but at the same time worried. So many emotions and just so little space where to put them.

He sat down at the edge of his bed. He held his head on his clawed hands and sighed. "What is happening to me? I'm not supposed to feel like this… " He closed his eyes tight, trying to think of something else rather than NiGHTS.

Out of nowhere a huge scream was heard. It was heard in all Nightmare Castle. It echoed though the empty halls and into the ears of all the sleeping Nightmaren. The scream came right from Master Wizeman's room.

It was a heart breaking scream, of pure pain and horror.

Reala sat there, not able to move. He wasn't processing the information that just went inside his brain. That scream. That scream was from …

"NiGHTS!!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Black Heart**

He flew. He flew as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going, he was just flying … flying to where the horrible scream came from. His mind was a storm, he didn't have any clear thoughts now. He wasn't able to think, he didn't have time to think. He had to get there, he had to see him, be sure he was alright.

He secretly wished he would find him there, just standing, with his back facing the wall of the hall, looking at him with those big beautiful eyes, with that heart warming smile he always had in his face. He wished that everything was like a normal day. That nothing bad had happened.

But he knew he was just fooling himself. He got hit by reality. He stopped flying . He was facing those huge horrible doors. He stared at them, too afraid to actually see what was behind them. He didn't have any will to move. He was there, just standing as if he wanted the doors to open by their own.

He was so focused on those doors, like someone who expected to see through them, that he didn't notice all the nightmarens behind him. They were curious. They heard the scream too, and wanted to know what was happening. As they saw the general just standing there, not doing nothing, they were more eager to know what happened, but no one dare to ask. They feared the cold general, and they knew for sure not to disturb him, unless he wanted to be disturbed.

"What is happening here?" a deep female voice was heard. All the nightmarens turned to the speaker who had just arrived. No one said anything, as no one really knew what was happening. They quietly pointed with trembling hands. They pointed towards the general, who was still standing there, in his own world, deep in thought and fear.

She bounced just in the middle of the hall. She looked around and noticed Reala's weird and unusual behavior. She immediately knew something was wrong with him, and that that scream she heard some minutes ago had something to do with it. She analyzed him. He didn't noticed she was there though.

She suddenly noticed that the nightmarens were still there, whispering or just waiting for someone to say something out loud. "You don't have anything to do here. Everybody go to their respective rooms, NOW!" her voice echoed through the hall. The nightmaren looked disappointed and with some whispers and moans they slowly disappeared, leaving the big round female and the general of nightmares alone.

There was a very uncomfortable silence. Puffy didn't say anything. She was just waiting. Waiting for something to happen. She wanted to ask him, but was too afraid of him getting mad at her. He got annoyed very easily.

They suddenly heard a distant laughter, and it got louder and louder as the creatures got nearer. Footsteps were heard too. They knew who they were. They waited patiently for them. Puffy felt somehow relieved to know she wasn't going to be alone with Reala, specially not now that he was just being silent. It made her feel uncomfortable.

"Oooh! I told you we weren't the only ones who heard it! hehee!" a caped nightmaren appeared in front of them. He was completely invisible, except for his big blue eyes and a creepy but huge smile. He pointed at them, excited "See? See?" The other nightmaren that came with him appeared right after him. He looked around and saw them. "Yes I see them, Jackle." He got closer, his cat body moved slowly and sat down right next to Puffy, facing the black doors. "Umm do you guys know what is going on? We heard a scream coming from Master Wizeman's room and got scared… well Jackle got scared."

"What? You are such a liar Clawz! You were the one scared not me!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh yes it is!"

"Can you please stop?! Or at least stop talking so loud, Master Wizeman could hear … " She started trembling at the thought of it. She was horribly scared of her Master. She feared him and respected him. She was extremely nervous, she didn't want to be there, so near him.

They suddenly noticed that Reala wasn't standing there anymore. He had moved towards the doors, and had one hand in the air. He was going to knock. His hand was trembling furiously, his heart beating faster than ever. He just couldn't take it anymore. He had to go inside and check. Check if everything was alright, that the scream he heard was just of someone else. One part of him told him to knock the doors, and the other part was telling him to just run away from there, disappear.

The three nightmaren just stared at him. Puffy started to tremble even more, Clawz was just extremely nervous, moving his tail really fast, and Jackle just watched the scene, not understanding why Puffy and Clawz were so frightened and why Reala was taking so long. I mean, it was just Master Wizeman's room, right?

Reala was sure about it, he was going to knock. His hand got closer and closer to the black and dirty doors. The pressure in the atmosphere grew bigger. Everyone was waiting, silent. Reala felt as he was going to have a heart attack, his heart just couldn't beat any faster.

Suddenly the two huge black doors swung open. Reala just stood there, his hand still in the air. He looked inside the room, but he couldn't see anything, it was only darkness as usual. He then slowly turned his puzzled head towards the other nightmarens. Puffy was just recovering of the huge scare she had with the doors, Clawz had all of his claws out and was still trembling and Jackle was just laughing as hard as he could. He found the frightened look in their faces just too funny.

"Come in my nightmarens, I've got something to show you … "


	3. Chapter 3

**Black Heart**

Fear. A big torrent of fear moved through their trembling bodies. Their feet were glued to the ground, not daring to move. No one said anything. They knew they had to go inside, inside that dark and cold room, but their bodies weren't responding well.

Reala stood there, still. He slowly turned his head to face his siblings. Puffy looked at him, she was frightened, very frightened. The idea of going inside that room … no, the idea of being in the same room with her Master scared her. She was just trembling in silence. She was waiting for someone to enter first, she definitely wasn't going to be the first one to go inside.

Clawz was just nervous, he moved his tail from one side to another. He had all his hairs up and just like Puffy he was waiting for someone to do the first move. He wasn't afraid of Master Wizeman, he knew he didn't do anything wrong, but being alone with him was something different. He stared back at Reala. Clawz gave him a serious look and moved his head, telling him to go in first.

Reala just looked at them. He wanted so much to enter, to see if he was alright, but at the same time he was afraid. What if something horrible happened to him? What if he was the one who screamed? What if Master Wizeman …. no, he couldn't think that, not now. He was decided, he was going to go in first.

He stared back at his siblings. Puffy and Clawz were waiting for him, looking with big and patient eyes. Reala gave them a shy smile, but when he was going to enter he noticed that something was missing...

"Where is Jackle?"

The other two looked at each other, surprised. Where was Jackle? They all looked around, but no one seemed to find the caped nightmaren. He simply disappeared. Suddenly a little giggle was heard. The happy voice came from the inside of their master's room. They all turned their puzzled heads towards the dark and cold room, as the giggle grew stronger and closer to them.

"Wha… ?"

Suddenly two big eyes and a big shiny smile appeared in front of them. The happy caped nightmaren came from the inside of the room, floating around happily. "What are you doing? Master Wizeman is waiting for you! Hehe!" And after saying this, Jackle went inside the room, giggling madly.

Puffy and Clawz didn't say anything. The two of them were thinking the same exact thing: When did he go inside the room? They never saw him, maybe they were just too frightened to actually notice him.

Reala just stared at him as he disappeared into the darkness of the room. He sure was a weird nightmaren. He didn't understand him, he was just too happy and careless. He was somehow childish but according to the situation he could be very intelligent, sadistic or serious.

Just as Puffy and Clawz, he didn't noticed when Jackle went inside, maybe he was just too focused in his thoughts again. But now he wasn't going to let Master Wizeman wait any longer. He started to fly inside slowly, until he was surrounded by darkness, that endless darkness that was so characteristic of Master Wizeman's room.

Clawz was next, he started to walk nervously towards the doors. He stopped and slowly turned his head towards Puffy, who was too frightened to move.

"Puffy, come on. Master is waiting for us."

She nodded and started bouncing towards him. Clawz smiled and followed her. They both entered the room, and were consumed by darkness.

* * *

He couldn't see anything, he felt as if he was being eaten slowly by all the darkness that surrounded him. Even if he raised his hand and put it right in front of his eyes, he was sure he wouldn't be able to see it. He waited slowly for something to happen. He could feel the others around him, hear their beating hearts near him. That made him feel a little bit better, and he knew the others were thinking the same thing too.

Suddenly a faint light appeared behind them, it seemed as if someone had just opened the black doors. They all turned around to see who was the stranger. A big and large shadow entered the room. They knew him. The shadow floated quietly and landed slowly beside them.

Reala smiled as he recognized the figure. Gillwing.

The big dragon nightmaren wasn't very bright, but he was loyal and dangerous. With his white fangs and large spiky tail, he sure was the one who scared the most.

They all waited patiently. They knew their master was somewhere in the room, so they waited for him. A faint light lightened the middle of the room. It was so low and faint that it only let them see each other's faces, nothing more. The big figure appeared at last. Six big hands with one eye each lowered down until they were just in front of them.

One hand and eye for each one of them. The huge eyes analyzed them, from head to toe. No one dared to move, not even to breath, until the hands moved away from them, returning to their original position, near Wizeman's body.

They all waited for him to say something. But their master just remained silent, looking down at them. Reala started to look around nervously, trying to find NiGHTS, to see if he was somewhere in here. But he didn't find anything, he was nowhere to be seen. He noticed that Gulpo, the great fish nightmaren, was floating lazily in his huge aquarium right next to him.

It took Reala some weeks to discover how Gulpo appeared in master Wizeman's room, being him an aquatic creature and all. Jackle told him that under Nightmare castle they were lots of submarine tunnels, in which Gulpo was able to swim around and reach almost every part of Nightmare castle, which had aquariums in almost every room just for him.

"My nightmarens … I have called you in here, as something bad has happened … "

The great leader of all Nightmares started speaking slowly but loud enough for them to hear his voice. Everyone in the room were fully focused on him now. All of their eyes fixed on their master as he went on with his speech.

"I'm pretty sure all of you know about the traitor, NiGHTS. Thanks to his actions our plan will be delayed for a century, as the time of convergence, that is when the portal between the waking world and ours weakens, happens every 100 years. This means we won't be seeing the red ideyas in a long time as we need them to go to the waking world… "

He started raising his voice while he spoke. The nightmarens were silent, no one was looking at their master, they all looked down, staring at the floor.

Reala's mind was a storm, he wasn't able to think well. So many feelings and thoughts inside of him. Where was his brother? That was the only thing he wanted to know. He couldn't care less about Wizeman's plans.

He wanted to ask. Where was him? but the mere thought of it scared him so much. He couldn't ask, but he had too. He felt as if he was going to die of stress if he didn't.

"M-Master … ! "

Reala's voice echoed in the room. Everyone turned their heads towards him, all eyes fixed in his face. He took his clawed hands to his mouth, totally regretting saying that. The word had just slipped out of his mouth. He was dead now, he had to ask. He took a deep breath. He was the general of Nightmares. It was totally unacceptable for him to be scared, specially now.

"Reala, what do you wish?" Wizeman's voice was loud and sharp. He didn't expect being interrupted by Reala and that was annoying him.

"I-I … W-Where …Umm … ?"

It was useless, he felt intimidated by his master. He wanted to speak, but the words just wouldn't come out of his mouth. He became more nervous, as he saw that Wizeman's patience was starting to run out. He tried again, but it was no use. He couldn't speak at all.

Wizeman's anger was raising, he was really mad. Reala was playing with him, wasting his precious time. He wasn't going to accept this. That nightmaren was going to be punished for this.

"Where is NiGHTS, Master?"

Reala just couldn't believe what was going on. He looked with big surprised eyes, as everyone in the room put their attention in this new speaker. Jackle was just calm, with a serious look in his face. Reala just stared at him, impressed. How did he know what he wanted to ask? He tried to make eye contact with him, but the invisible caped nightmaren never looked at him, he kept playing with one of his blade cards in his hands, looking up, right into Master Wizeman's face.

If Wizeman had a mouth he would've probably grinned at that question.

"You mean the traitor? … Well, he is right here... with us …"

The room felt silent again. What was he saying? NiGHTS was here too? But where? Reala started to look around. If NiGHTS was here too, then why no one could see him? He desperately searched the room, trying to find him.

He realized that he wasn't the only one searching for him. A very low whisper was heard in the room, as the nightmarens in it tried their best to find their friend. After some minutes of useless searching they all turned back at Wizeman, confused.

The Master of all Nightmarens just looked down at them, amused. He moved slightly forward, making them move backwards. He then let a small laugh, it was so soft and low that no one except Clawz, who had very good hearing, heard it.

Wizeman the wicked, after a moment of silence spoke loudly but clearly, with some malice in his voice. "Look, here he is."

He took his enormous cape with one of his huge hands, and pulled it away, like trying to show them something that was hiding in it. The thing that was covered by the cape was now in the sight of everyone in the room. The sight of that miserable creature made everyone's heart to miss a beat. They all looked at it with pure horror and disgust.

Reala's heart stopped beating for a second. The scene in front of him was just too much for him. Too much. He felt how his legs started to weaken, making him fall down to his knees. He didn't want to see it, but he just couldn't look away from it. He tried as hard as he could not to cry, at least not in front of his Master, but little shy tears started rolling down his cheeks.

Puffy was covering her eyes with her gloved hands, trying to block that horrible image. She whimpered in silence, afraid, so afraid. She was trembling fiercely. She didn't wanted to be there, she wanted to go away. But she knew she couldn't do that. She had to wait, wait for everything to end.

Jackle analyzed the scene in silence. His so characteristic smile had disappeared, and his big eyes were focused on the crushed body in front of him. He didn't move. The card blade he was fooling with was now laying in the cold floor of the room. He couldn't believe what was in front of him.

Clawz was jus paralyzed with fear. Gulpo didn't show any emotion in his large cold face and Gillwing was making some whimpering noises, full of sadness and concern.

The miserable creature in front of them was barely breathing. He was badly hurt and almost every bone in his body was broken. Bright red blood was slowly emerging from his wounds, making a small red puddle on the floor. It was a miracle that he was still alive.

There was complete silence in the room. An awful and stressing silence.

The Master of all Nightmarens suddenly spoke, making everyone in the room jump. They all turned their shaking heads from the horrible scene, to look at their Master.

"Listen to me carefully. If anyone dares to betray me, he or she will have the same punishment or even worse…. Is that clear?"

The frightened nightmarens nodded silently, but only one of them didn't. The general wasn't paying attention at all. He didn't care about anything or anyone anymore. The room around him had disappeared. His mind was set in his brother, never taking his sad eyes off him. For the first time in his life, Reala was crying.

Wizeman ignored the broken general, who was still on his knees. He was just focused on something else.

During the past hours the younger nightmarens had been thinking on betraying him. Many of them thought NiGHTS' actions were right and that he was the wrong one. He wasn't going to tolerate that. They were useless . He knew that with his second and first class nightmarens it was just enough for his plan to succeed . He only had those stupid nightmarens just in case, but now that their little brains were planning to betray him, he just couldn't let them live. He wasn't going to accept that kind of behavior.

" Now, my nightmarens, I will tell you the real reason of why you were called here. Thanks to my power, I've seen inside the younger ones' mind. They are planning to betray me, just like NiGHTS did. As you well know, I can't tolerate this… "

Everyone in the room waited nervously for their Master to continue. They knew a tragedy was near. They felt it. Reala had snatched back to reality and was hearing the speech silently, even though he was still sobbing.

" … they will be all executed. Everyone of them. Punishment won't work this time. They are too many and I can't take that risk. The attack to the waking world will go as planned, in 100 years from now. You, my nightmarens, are the only ones I need. The rest are useless, too weak to even defend themselves. "

He stopped talking. He wanted to see the reaction in their faces. They were frightened, but he knew they were trying to hide it. They were all serious and quiet, not daring to look up. But a certain someone caught his attention. Reala was looking at him, expressionless, though Wizeman could see the anger rising in his eyes.

Even though his face remained expressionless, his mind was a storm. Reala was trying to control all the new feelings and emotions that he was experimenting. He wanted to hurt his Master. Hurt him for almost killing his precious brother. He felt sad and he was extremely worried for his brother's health, but he knew he would be punished if he went near him now. He was furious. It wasn't fair! The young nightmarens were too innocent to actually betray Wizeman, they respected and feared him. They didn't deserve to die.

Wizeman could feel all the raging emotions coming from the general. He would never admit it, but he felt slightly scared of his own creation. The way he looked up at him, the fire burning in his eyes of pure rage and hate. Wizeman decided to ignore him. He wasn't in the mood to punish more nightmarens.

He then turned his head towards the other nightmarens as he proceeded with his speech again.

" Now that you are all aware of what is going to happen, you may leave. You will come here tomorrow. I have something I want you to do for me."

After saying that, the frightened nightmarens went slowly towards the door. The horrible things they saw and heard in this room were going to haunt them forever. They were still shocked and frightened. They felt as if their muscles were made of iron. It was difficult to move. Their brains weren't processing all the information they heard from their Master.

Only one of them didn't move from his place. Reala was still on his knees. He didn't want to move. Not a little bit. He promised himself not to leave that room without his brother. He knew that wouldn't be possible, but he would use all of his power if he needed to.

"Jackle … Come here."

Wizeman's deep and low voice echoed through the room. The invisible nightmaren, who was on his way out of the room, froze. He turned around to face his Master. Why did he call him? Did he do something wrong? Was he mad with him? He got closer to his Master, and stopped right next to Reala, who was staring at the floor.

" You two…. I have a little work for you."

**

* * *

****Author's Note:**

I am quite aware of the fact that Reala is rather OOC here. Don't worry, I will explain everything in the next chapter. I have an explanation to everything here as I've been thinking of this story for some time now.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Black Heart**

The door closed slowly behind them. They were alone now. Them, the traitor and their master. The second class and first class nightmaren were waiting nervously for their master to talk to them, tell them what he wanted them to do. He said he had a job for them, but … what kind of job?

They waited patiently for Wizeman to say something but he was just staring at them. The only thing that could be heard inside that creepy and dark room was the heavy breathing coming from the broken traitor.

Reala slowly stood up. He wasn't sobbing anymore, he wasn't showing his weak side anymore. He was yet again the cold and cruel general everyone knew, though there was something different in his eyes. His eyes were normally cold and serious, but now they were shinning with rage and malice. Jackle was staring at him with curiosity. It was the first time he'd seen Reala act that way, of course seeing the cruel and normally emotionless nightmaren burst out into tears some minutes ago had surprised him a lot too, but this was different. Since when did Reala show this amount of emotion?

Jackle was interrupted from his thoughts when a loud and low voice started talking.

"There is something that I want you to do" the king of Nightmare began. He was talking slowly so his two creations could understand him fully. " You two will take the traitor and lock him up somewhere in the Night Realm. He will be locked up until the day of convergence arrives."

"I thought you wanted to destroy him Master, not to lock him up" the General of nightmares said suddenly.

Reala was looking up at Wizeman, his eyes were shinning with fire. He wasn't feeling sad and desperate anymore, he was furious. He didn't know what was happening to him. It was the first time in his life he'd felt so many emotions at the same time. He wanted to cry, he wanted to run away and lock himself up in his lair, he wanted to take his brother out of there and he wanted to hurt his Master, all at the same time.

The storm in his heart and mind made him rebellious. He wasn't afraid of Wizeman anymore.

The king of Nightmare was speechless. He couldn't believe that Reala (one of his most loyal nightmarens) was un respectful with him . It was actually the first time Reala even dared to speak without him telling him to speak first. Seeing the red and black nightmaren looking up at him with anger and hate written in his face, made him remember NiGHTS' face when he stole the red Ideya from him. Remembering that little scene made his body shake with anger. What did he do wrong? Why did his best creations even dare to speak to him in such a rude manner? Why did they disobey him? Why didn't they respect their creator!?

"You will not question me. You will do as I told, unless you want me to destroy _you_" he said slowly. Reala just remained silent. He knew he couldn't do anything about it. He decided to do as he was told for now, even though his feelings towards the situation remained the same.

Wizeman felt satisfied with Reala's new attitude. Even though he wanted to destroy NiGHTS some hours ago, now that he was calm and that he was thinking right he found the idea rather stupid. Even though the nightmaren didn't wish to join his side, he found the idea of locking him up to be a perfect punishment, specially because NiGHTS was a free soul. For NiGHTS being locked up was even more painful than being killed, that was for sure. And even though the emperor of nightmares didn't like to admit it, he wasn't going to waste such a powerful nightmaren. NiGHTS will be locked for about one hundred years. He thought that that amount of time was enough to make NiGHTS change his mind about what side he wanted to be.

"Now if you please, I want you to go. I wish to have some rest for now. You are dismissed for today."

* * *

Nightmare castle was known of having very dark and creepy corridors. In the whole castle there was only one huge and long corridor that everyone feared. Some nightmarens thought that Master Wizeman created that corridor that way so no one went near to where it took. And it worked, no one dared to even look at it. The long corridor was totally dark, you couldn't see the end of it. Some said that in the end of the corridor there was a door in which Wizeman kept all the unfinished nightmaren, the "failures", and if you opened that door they would steal your soul in an attempt of completing their unfinished selves. Others said that that was the place nightmarens went when they died or where they were created. But something was certain, no one knew what was inside that door, if there was any of course.

Jackle always felt curious about it, like any other nightmaren. The fact of not knowing what was there was exciting yet scary at the same time. He always wanted to see what was the corridor's mysterious end. Was it a door? Was it a portal? Well, he was going to find out soon.

After they left Master Wizeman's room, Reala without saying a word, started walking or better said, floating towards the feared corridor. Jackle didn't say anything, he just followed him in silence. He felt tempted to ask him if he needed help carrying NiGHTS more than once, but he couldn't find the appropriate words to ask him. The general just didn't look as if he wanted someone else to carry the traitor for him. Jackle noticed that he wasn't furious anymore, he was rather sad now. Poor Reala, he had just started to feel emotions and the only ones he knew until now were rage, sadness and desperation.

"Umm… Reala, where are we going?" the invisible nightmaren finally said when he noticed that they where getting nearer and nearer to the dark and feared corridor. The general of Nightmares stopped and slowly turned his head to face Jackle, who was behind him. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, being NiGHTS' slow and heavy breathing the only sound that could be heard. Reala was the one to look away first.

"We are going where Master Wizeman told us to go"

Reala's voice wasn't normal, it didn't sound like him at all. His voice was normally cold and loud but this one… this one was different, it sounded weak and broken, as if the old Reala had died and a little frightened and sad Reala had replaced him. Jackle then remembered what his Master had told him when he was leaving the room. Wizeman liked using his powers to communicate mentally with his creations, and that's what he did with Jackle. He heard the low and deep voice in his mind. He didn't understand what Wizeman meant though.

_"Don't take yours eyes off Reala, Jackle. I don't trust him enough to send him alone, at least not in his current condition."_

Realization hit him hard. Did Wizeman think that Reala was going to betray him too? How could that be? Reala was one of Wizeman's most loyal nightmarens, you had to be crazy to think that the general was even capable of thinking on betraying Wizeman. But now….. the idea that seemed so far away from reality was so possible to happen that Jackle felt rather confused at his own thoughts.

"Are you coming or what?" Reala's rather distant voice called him. Jackle nodded and started following the jester like creature through the corridor. The invisible nightmaren, without noticing, took out one of his many blade cards and started playing with it. He always did that when he was nervous or excited.

Every step they took through the corridor, made their surroundings darker. What started to be a fully illuminated corridor, ended up in a pitch black tunnel. Jackle felt like he was blind, he took his hands to his face several times to be sure his eyes where there, the lack of light made him doubt if he had eyes at all. Reala didn't seemed to be bothered about the lack of light, he just kept going, not stopping once.

Suddenly a horrible thought went through Jackle's mind. What if Reala knew he was making sure he didn't betray their Master? What if he was the only thing that kept Reala from running away? What if Reala was taking him to the end of the corridor to get rid of him?... What if he was plotting how to do it now? The second class nightmaren was scared. Reala was a first class, he wouldn't have a chance against him, specially in this horrible darkness...

Jackle tensed. He took out all of his cards, ready for Reala's attack. He never stopped following him though, he thought of running away several times but he was told to look after Reala, and that was what he was going to do, no matter what…

Reala suddenly stopped, making Jackle bump into him. The second class nightmaren jumped backwards ready for the other's attack, but it never came. The red and black jester just stood there, looking into the darkness in front of him. Jackle could feel the others heartbeat race along with NiGHTS' slow breathing.

"We're finally here"

What was he talking about? Was this the end of the corridor? Jackle looked around excited, searching for a door or a portal or something weird and mysterious. But there was nothing, just darkness, a pitch black darkness. "Um… where?" he finally said rather disappointed. He was expecting something amazing and breath taking, not some plain and dark dead end.

"Just watch" And with saying this a huge light blinded them. Jackle, eyes half closed, tried to see what was going on through his cape as he was covering his face with it. Wasn't this supposed to be a dark place? Where was this light coming from? He couldn't answer these questions. He could barely see what was going on but he did see how Reala started walking towards that shinny light. He also saw how his two siblings, the general and the traitor, were consumed by it, disappearing.

He felt himself panic. He had lost the jesters. He was afraid of that light, he wasn't used to it. Dark places were better, at least his eyes didn't hurt when he was in the dark. But if he went back Master Wizeman was going to punish him, that was for sure. Oh, how he hated punishments. He stood there, staring at the spot where Reala had been standing some seconds ago. He had to follow… he wasn't going to allow another betrayal. He wasn't going to let his Master down… and he wasn't going to loose another brother again.

With a very deep and strong breath, the caped nightmaren went forward. He was decided, he was going to go. He extended one of his invisible arms towards the light and touched it. Nothing happened. The nightmaren sighed, relaxing a little bit. He didn't notice how tense he was. Then he saw with wide eyes how the light covered his hand, then his arm and finally his entire body. He found himself being dragged by a strange force. He closed his eyes shut. The light was too bright that it actually hurt, he just waited desperately for it to end.

* * *

He didn't know where he was. He could feel the hard floor under him, the feeling of the wind moving his cape and hat. He slowly stood up, his eyes still closed. His head was a storm, he felt like if he had been flying in circles for hours. The world was spinning for him. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid of finding the hated light once more, the horrible thing that made his eyes hurt. For his surprise the place wasn't as bright as he expected it to be. It was brighter than nightmare, the only place he knew, but it didn't hurt and he was satisfied by it. He gazed around amazed. So this was what Master Wizeman called Nightopia…

"So it was a portal after all… I can't wait to tell the others!" And with saying this, off he went to find the general of Nightmares and the traitor.

* * *

**Author's note: **Hello lovely readers. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. You see I've been having a writer's block lately, so I wasn't able to write a decent chapter for this little story here.

Two more chapters to go and this little baby is finished. Thank God, it was about time. Uff, I hate this Chapter... it's so rushed urrgh. This Chapter, just like Chapter 2 was to Chapter 3, is an introduction to Chapter 5.

The next Chapter will come soon... only if I get enough reviews.. hint hint

Ohoho, Jackle took Reala's spotlight here hehe.

See you soon people and **thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Hello! Sorry for taking ages to update this little thing, but I totally forgot I had a fanfiction, my bad. Anyways, as I honestly don't want the fanfiction to end, the two HUGE final chapters were divided into three ( and maybe I'll divide them into more ) to make it longer C: That's the main reason this chapter is rather short.

A little thing for you to know : The parragraphs writen in Italic are memories/flash backs. When only little sentences or just some words are writen in Italics then they are thoughts.

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* * *

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**Black Heart**

_"The Night Realm, the place were human dreams are created, the place were their minds wander while they are asleep. Humans visit this place every night, yet they don't know of it's existence. They are the energy source of this land. We call them Visitors or just Dreamers._

_This place, the Night Realm, changes it's appearance depending of the visitor's dream. Even though this land is different in the eyes of each dreamer, it has two main places that never change…._

_Nightopia and Nightmare._

_Nightopia is the place were pleasant and beautiful dreams are created. It's inhabitants are the nightopians, little dream creatures that guide the Visitors into wonderful dreams. Nightopians though, are highly primitive, they don't have an organized community as us. They are very stupid and they don't know what a responsibility is._

_While Nightmare is the place were horrible and unpleasant dreams are created, which are called nightmares. It's inhabitants are us, the nightmarens. Our job is to steal Ideya from the visitors - "_

_"What's Ideya?" said a little and innocent voice. The big round female sighed. Her master had left her in charge of the two new nightmarens. As it was common Wizeman was the one who explained everything to the new nightmarens, but these two had drained all of his energy during their creation, so he left the horrible task to her._

_"They are dream energy that visitors have" she said as quickly as possible. " And now, as I was saying, our job is to steal-"_

_"Dream energy? Just that?... I thought it was something to eat…" said the little voice ,who sounded really disappointed. Puffy sighed again. She looked down at the two little creatures. " No, it isn't. It's just dream energy, though there are different kinds of Ideya I will explain that to you when your little brains can process the information"._

_She was getting annoyed, specially with the smallest one. He just kept asking weird questions which interrupted her explanation. Thanks to the constant interruptions she finally decided to start talking really fast so the little one couldn't have time to ask anything. While the smallest one was a little jester-like nightmaren who wore purple clothes with a purple hat, the older one was just like the other but with red and black clothes with the same hat, which was red and black too. Apart from the difference in the color of their clothes the oldest one was much more pale than the other, with two black lines that went down his eyes._

_For what the two new creations had told Puffy some hours ago, the oldest one was called Reala and the little one NiGHTS._

_"Now, can I continue or are you going to ask more questions?" the female nightmaren said with annoyance. Reala just looked at her, and did a motion with his hand, telling her to go on. Puffy was sure that the little red and black jester was mute, he hadn't say anything at all since his creation, while NiGHTS was extremely difficult to shut up. The little purple nightmaren copied his brother's actions, and with this Puffy continued._

_"Our job is to steal this Ideya from the visitors and give them to our Master, Wizeman. When we take the Ideya away from a dreamer he or she has a horrible nightmare, meaning that our job is done. You are too young to steal Ideya now, but I'm pretty sure you will in some more days." She felt happy, the basic explanation of the Night Realm was done. "That's all for now little ones, if you have any questions feel free to ask." and with saying this she started bouncing away from them._

_"I have a question"_

_She stopped right there and turn around to see who was talking. She was extremely annoyed. Why didn't this little nightmaren shut up?_

_"What is it NiGHTS?"_

_The purple yester looked at her, he was slightly nervous. What if she gets mad at him for asking such a thing? He glanced towards his brother, who looked back, his face totally emotionless. NiGHTS then took a deep breath and said " What if I don't want to steal Ideya?"_

_Puffy didn't know what to say. It was the first time in her life she'd heard something like that. He didn't want to steal Ideya? That's ridiculous! Nightmarens were created for that purpose! Making Visitors suffer with horrible dreams was what they did. Why wouldn't he like that if he was a nightmaren too?_

_"You don't have a choice. Nightmarens are meant to steal Ideya and to create horrible dreams. If you are a nightmaren then that's what you have to do and you better like it"_

_Puffy just couldn't believe what she was hearing, the calm and silent red and black yester said exactly what se was going to say. She looked at him, surprised. He was just some hours old and he was speaking as if he was as old as her. But what caught her attention was the coldness in his voice, and his emotionless face. He almost looked like a robot._

_"But, I don't want to make people suffer. Why can't I be like a nightopian?" said the little NiGHTS. He was getting annoyed. Why couldn't he make people happy? He didn't want to have responsibilities. Was something wrong with that?_

_"As your brother said, you are a nightmaren and unfortunately you can't change that. Now if you excuse me, I must be going." And with saying this she finally left the two brothers alone._

* * *

It took sometime for his eyes to get used to the colors of Nightopia. Unlike Nightmare, which was a dark and creepy place, Nightopia was full of light, music and colors, the three elements that made a nightmaren sick. That's why nightmarens didn't dare to go near Nightopia, the colors and the happy tunes of the place disgusted them, even Master Wizeman couldn't last more than one hour between the happy dances and songs the nightopians used to sing. That was one of the reasons Master Wizeman decided to hide the portal to this horrible land, in a place no one would find it, in an attempt of taking the colors and the music away from his perfect and emotionless creations. You could go into Nightmare with the help of a small portal in Nightopia, but once you were in the dark and frightening land of Wizeman, you couldn't go back to the happy and bright Nightopia, unless you were able to find the hiding spot of the other portal, of course.

Master Wizeman's attempts of hiding the portal to Nightopia, so no one would go near it, weren't successful. One nightmaren used to frequently visit Nightopia secretly, enjoying and playing with the nightopians, as he were one of them. That's why he was here now. That's why he had chosen this place in particular. If NiGHTS had to be locked in a cage for one hundred years, the least he could do for him was to lock him up in his favorite place. At least that was what Reala thought and what he was going to do anyways.

Reala looked around, trying to remember where he exactly was. He had been only once in this horrible place, and that was centuries ago (literally), so his memories weren't working very well right now. He sighed heavily. He then decided to check on his prisoner, who was still on his back. His wounds were healing well, as nightmarens were able of healing themselves in a very short amount of time, depending on the gravity of their wounds. He was going to wake up soon, that was for sure.

Floating slowly, Reala decided it was time to find a suitable place for NiGHTS to be locked in, and with a deep sigh he started flying higher and higher through the sky of the colorful Nightopia.

* * *

He hated this place but at the same time loved it. He adored the tunes and dances, but the bright colors hurt his eyes. He decided that he had to learn how to dance and sing as a nightopian, so he could practice all day long in his beloved Nightmare, that was darker and less colorful than this happy land.

Jackle floated around happily through the kingdom of Nightopia, he looked around amazed, as he had never seen something like this place before. He found rather funny the fact that every time he went near a nightopian, this one started to cry hysterically or run away desperately. At the beginning he found the look on their cute little faces just priceless, and pointing them with one finger, he just laughed until his invisible sides hurt. After a while of scaring innocent nightopians, he became bored. His poor eyes were sore thanks to the excessive light and he was just annoyed by the fact that he hadn't found his siblings yet. His good mood, that was so characteristic of him, totally disappeared. It was known not to get near Jackle when he was mad, which was something that happened once in a very long while. His shinny and huge smile was nowhere to be seen, as the only thing he wanted was to find Reala and get to Nightmare soon, so he could rest in his dark and silent lair, far away from the horrible and bright colors that caused so much pain to his eyes.

"If I don't find Reala in less than 5 minutes I'm going to be very pissed, and possibly blind. How I hate light!"

* * *

_"Hey Ree, would you like to go on an adventure with me?"_

_NiGHTS was floating around the room, waiting for Reala's answer. The other nightmaren was just silent, he was reading a book that was stolen some minutes ago from Jackle's lair. Even though he thought the older and invisible nightmaren was just crazy and weird, he always liked the books he had._

_"How many times have I told you not to call me Ree? My name is Reala."_

_"I know that, but Reala is just too long!"_

_"But I don't like it when you call me Ree"_

_The purple jester sighed. It had been only one week since his birth, and he still couldn't get along with his twin brother, Reala. They were extremely different, not in looks but in the way they thought, their dreams and goals. NiGHTS also tried to become friends with his older siblings, but without success. Puffy didn't like the fact that the little jester nightmaren talked all the time, as she didn't like to speak of anything else rather than herself, and NiGHTS loved to speak of himself too. Clawz was always sleeping and when he was awake he always told him he didn't have time to talk with a stupid little nightmaren as himself. Gulpo simply ignored him and even though Gillwing always listened to what he wanted to say, the fact that the huge dragon creature couldn't speak bothered him to no end. The only sibling who he actually enjoyed being around was Jackle, they were both extremely talkative and the invisible one had a very good sense of humor, sadly, Jackle was also a master of card games, and every time they were together, the older nightmaren made him play poker or other card game with him. And he honestly didn't like playing with Jackle, because no matter what he did or how good his hand was, the master of the card games always won._

_"…you didn't answer my question, Reala"_

_NiGHTS didn't look him to the eye, he wanted to spend time with his twin brother, so they could finally get along, but no matter what he did, the red and black jester always avoided him, changed the conversation or just ignored him. He was used to this kind of thing, but he really wanted Reala to become friends with him, that's why he always tried again and again. He knew the cold nightmaren was going to say yes in the end._

_"ah.."_

_"…"_

_"What kind of adventure?"_

* * *


End file.
